I'm always needing advise on assembling this old '54 1/2 ton. What keeps the hood "gullwing" halfs from moving up and down in their respective "hinge" channels?? Is there a screw stop or something? or is it just a matter of watching closely when opening and closing the hoods??

The design of the hinge itself limits a lot of movement, and the latches that keep the hood closed also tends to keep the hood sections from moving much. Back in 54, minor things like hood movement were not much of an issue, these were built as work trucks.

That said, we put 40,000 miles + on our 54 1/2 ton dodge pickup in 4 years (Volarri x member, 360, 727,8 3/4 w 3:55 Sure Grip), the hood hinge wasn't much of a problem, but the center panel did start stress cracking on both ends of the hinges. To correct that, I welded in a pair of 1/2" round bar under each side of the center piece to keep it from flexing up and down. I bent the round stock to match the curve, and welded them in just inside the lip the hinge is attached to. The round stock ran from where the center panel bolts to the firewall to the front where the center panel bolts to the grill housing. We also had some issues with the top of the fenders cracking at the forward upper bolt near where the hood bolts on to the grill housing. I reinforced that corner on both fenders, but the truck went away before I knew if what I did helped or not. Sorry, no pictures exist. Gene

Thanks for the info. Yeh..this hood center panel was cracked alright...not too bad, but I can see it doing that again. I might just do what you described now while it's unpainted. I have already welded up those corners of the fenders. Hopefully they won't crack again any time soon!

When I did the fender cracks, I added more metal to the bolt on braces attached to the radiator support. The 50 I had, had more original fender support then the 54 had, but some of the stuff from the 54 may have been removed before it came to me. My 54 had some history with a few guys that were drag racing, some stuff may have been removed to lighten the truck. My 50 took almost 10 years to crack the fender corners. Gene